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Obama Signs Two-Week Budget Extension

WASHINGTON — President Obama called on Wednesday for high-level negotiations to bridge major budgetary differences between Congressional Republicans and Democrats after the Senate passed a measure to buy at least two more weeks for talks.

After the Senate’s bipartisan 91-to-9 vote in a favor of a bill that keeps federal agencies open through March 18 while enacting $4 billion in new spending cuts, Mr. Obama urged House and Senate leaders to meet with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and two top aides to work out a longer-term budget agreement.

“Living with the threat of a shutdown every few weeks is not responsible, and it puts our economic progress in jeopardy,” said Mr. Obama, who signed the bill a few hours after the Senate vote. He said any eventual agreement should “cut spending and reduce deficits without damaging economic growth or gutting investments in education, research and development that will create jobs and secure our future.”

Republican leaders said they were already in talks with Democrats and the White House but would take part in budget meetings if they were invited. They noted that the Republican-led House had passed a $61 billion package of cuts covering the remaining seven months of the current fiscal year while the Democratic-controlled Senate had not produced any legislation beyond passing the temporary budget measure drafted by the House.

“The House’s position is: We passed a bill. It’s out there,” Speaker John A. Boehner said. “And I think it’s time for them to outline for us what’s their position to keep the government funded. We’ve done our work in the House.”

Contending with sharp internal splits about how far to go in cutting spending and a reluctance to show their hand, Senate Democrats have not made public any specifics on their ideas for cuts, frustrating Republicans who see themselves as making hard, substantive proposals with no corresponding effort in the Senate.

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Reporters surrounded Mitch McConnell and John A. Boehner after a stopgap spending bill was approved Wednesday.Credit
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Still, Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday urged Republicans to come to the bargaining table to work out a deal to finance the government through Sept. 30 and perhaps go beyond the immediate fiscal issues to take on larger budgetary questions about spending on entitlement programs like Medicare and an increase in the debt limit.

“As far as we’re concerned, everything is on the table,” said Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader.

Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, said that he and others had been identifying spending cuts that Democrats could support and that they were running the ideas by the White House. “We’re ready to roll up our sleeves, and we hope those on the other side will, too,” Mr. Schumer said.

Even with the White House effort to jolt lawmakers into talks, reaching a compromise before the expiration of the new spending measure on March 18 seems unlikely and Congressional aides predicted at least one more stop-gap bill might be required.

Given Mr. Biden’s long history in the Senate, he has emerged as the president’s go-to guy for tricky bipartisan negotiations. He worked with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, to strike a tax deal last December and he also helped steer the nuclear arms treaty through to approval in last year’s lame-duck session.

But finding a compromise in the spending fight could test his abilities as well as those of the two senior staff members assigned to take part: William M. Daley, the new White House chief of staff, and Jacob J. Lew, the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Not only are the House and Senate far apart on how much should be cut, the House-passed measure includes a number of ideologically charged provisions like proposals to roll back the new health care law, end financing for Planned Parenthood and restrict the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate emissions.

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Harry Reid answered questions after the spending vote.Credit
Drew Angerer/The New York Times

Senate Democrats say they will oppose conducting such policy fights on spending bills. But many House Republicans have declared they will not vote for a broad spending measure unless it eliminates money for the health law and federal financing of abortions. Many in the 87-member Republican freshman class also do not seem inclined to give much ground on the $61 billion in total cuts from the current budget.

The two-week measure approved Wednesday includes a down payment on those cuts by slicing $4 billion from spending by rescinding nearly $2.8 billion that would have been spent on local projects through earmarks that both parties have banned. Another $1.2 billion is saved by eliminating eight programs both Republicans and Democrats have agreed to cut in the past.

Those cuts include $75 million in election grants; $29 million to help rural communities develop broadband networks; $30 million in unneeded Smithsonian renovation money; $250 million for a reading program;, and $650 million in added highway spending.

Republicans said the fact that Democrats did not fight the cuts gave them some confidence that deeper reductions could be made.

“It is the first time I can recall in the time that I’ve been here our actually cutting spending on an appropriation bill,” Mr. McConnell said. “It’s a small step, but a step in the right direction.”

Even as Congress approved the short-term extension, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned members of a House committee that the military could face a crisis if it is forced to keep operating under current budget restraints or a significant cut. He said the House-passed bill represented a cut of about $17 billion for this year.

“Operating under a yearlong continuing resolution or significantly reduced funding, with the severe shortfalls that entails, would damage procurement and research programs,” he said. “Cuts in maintenance could force parts of our aircraft fleet to be grounded and delay deep-needed facilities improvements.”

A version of this article appears in print on March 3, 2011, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Senate Approves Stopgap Spending Bill as Obama Seeks Negotiations. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe